Cove High fisherman hooks college scholarship

By WENDY SLEDD

Special to the Leader-Press

Sixteen year old Rayvone Williams just accomplished what some may believe to be a fisherman’s tale, but it’s all true. The Copperas Cove High School junior hooked a college scholarship for simply pitching a line with his rod and reel.

Williams competes in a high school fishing circuit, Central Texas High School Tournament Trail, and is partnered with another high school student. They compete in tournaments throughout the school year to earn points to qualify for the championship event held this past weekend at Stillhouse Lake. Sixty young anglers from across Central Texas who had qualified to fish the CHTSTT Championship and their boat captains took to the water, competing for over $ 7,700 in cash and prizes. Williams and his fishing partner, Jacob Froese, under the team name, Cen-Tex Bass Hunters, captured first place with a total weight of 18.64. They each won a trophy and will split a $2,500 scholarship.

“I’ve been fishing for almost 12 years. I started when I was three years old, fishing with my grandpa. I just decided to do it competitively this year,” Williams said. “I didn’t think I would ever win any money for fishing, but it felt great.”

Williams said he and Froese usually averaged 12 to 13 pounds of fish each tournament. His grandmother, Ruth Toomer, is not surprised that her grandson took first place in the championship.

“Fishing is in his family. His dad is a fisherman and his grandpa. He knows what he is doing. He’s been doing it since he was old enough to hold a pole,” Toomer said. “He fishes and hunts and does all that stuff.

“Every weigh-in (of fish caught) at every tournament has been exciting this year, but this one topped it off because they won first place and won scholarship money,” Toomer said.

Williams is the first official representative of a fishing team for Copperas Cove High School. Because he had no other Cove teammates, he was paired up with Froese who is from Belton. 

“At the beginning of the season, I was kind of nervous, but then I got more and more comfortable,” Williams said. “We have to pre-fish the lake and see what (the fish) can bite on. If one of us catches a fish on that certain bait, we go to a different color but fish the same thing.” 

Williams, who is also a champion pole vaulter, hopes fishing may be another avenue for scholarships to pay his tuition at East Texas Baptist University where he hopes to major in Kinesiology.  

“We are all trying to find way to get scholarship money for our kids and you can go to college on a fishing scholarship,” Toomer said. “Who would’ve ever thought you could go to college for fishing?”